University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
AC-1: Academic Courses

The inventory included designates between our new general education program USP that features sustainability as one of its main focuses for teaching. The non-USP courses are the courses outside of the USP program. Even if they have the same name they are actually two different courses. Signature Questions To build your intellectual curiosity, USP incorporates three broad Signature Questions that are woven throughout the Quests. As an incoming student, you will begin to question in a discipline-based first-year experience (FYE) course while concurrently enrolled in a second course focused on the skills employers repeatedly name as the most crucial to success in the 21st century. Among these skills is the ability to write and speak effectively and to collaborate successfully with others. By enrolling in these paired courses during your first two semesters on campus, you are placed in small learning communities that begin to examine USP's Signature Questions. How do people understand and create a more sustainable world? Knowledge of Sustainability and Its Applications is the ability to understand local and global earth systems; the qualities of ecological integrity and the means to restore and preserve it; and the interconnection of ecological integrity, social justice and economic well-being. How do people understand and engage in community life? Civic Learning entails understanding political and nonpolitical processes that influence a local, state, national or global community and applying skills and strategies that can affect the life of a community in positive ways. How do people understand and bridge cultural differences? Intercultural Knowledge is the understanding of one's own culture as well as cultures beyond one's own; the recognition of the cultural values and history, language, traditions, arts and social institutions of a group of people; the ability to negotiate and bridge cultural differences in ways that allow for broader perspectives to emerge; and the skills to investigate a wide range of world views, beliefs, practices and values.

The Campus Sustainability Council of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, which includes at least three faculty members who teach courses in different departments, adopted the definition of sustainability in the curriculum to guide sustainability course identification. They also recommended applying a rubric developed by faculty working on General Education Reform. The rubric included a matrix listing goals/competencies for three levels: Knowledge, Analysis, and Action. The Director of Sustainability, the Chancellor's Fellow on Sustainability, and student interns analyzed the syllabi available for courses taught in the 2010-2011 Academic Year and again in the years prior. Some syllabi were not available for analysis because they were not posted online and faculty did not respond to repeated requests. A complete listing of courses/sections offered was obtained from the Registrar. A table was constructed to document the syllabus analysis. The new general education program features sustainability as one of its main cross disciplinary focuses for every incoming freshman. Signature Questions To build your intellectual curiosity, USP incorporates three broad Signature Questions that are woven throughout the Quests. As an incoming student, you will begin to question in a discipline-based first-year experience (FYE) course while concurrently enrolled in a second course focused on the skills employers repeatedly name as the most crucial to success in the 21st century. Among these skills is the ability to write and speak effectively and to collaborate successfully with others. By enrolling in these paired courses during your first two semesters on campus, you are placed in small learning communities that begin to examine USP's Signature Questions. How do people understand and create a more sustainable world? Knowledge of Sustainability and Its Applications is the ability to understand local and global earth systems; the qualities of ecological integrity and the means to restore and preserve it; and the interconnection of ecological integrity, social justice and economic well-being. How do people understand and engage in community life? Civic Learning entails understanding political and nonpolitical processes that influence a local, state, national or global community and applying skills and strategies that can affect the life of a community in positive ways. How do people understand and bridge cultural differences? Intercultural Knowledge is the understanding of one's own culture as well as cultures beyond one's own; the recognition of the cultural values and history, language, traditions, arts and social institutions of a group of people; the ability to negotiate and bridge cultural differences in ways that allow for broader perspectives to emerge; and the skills to investigate a wide range of world views, beliefs, practices and values.